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IRISH GARDENING 



Scabiosa caucasica perfecta is not a new plant 

 now, but has so many good qualities that it 

 should find a place in all collections of hardy 

 herbaceous plants. Of compact habit, reaching 

 a height of about two feet when in flower, a group 

 of plants is very effective. The flowers are 

 of a pretty pale lilac colour and are produced 

 throughout the summer and autumn, and are 

 first rate for cutting. 



Thalictrum Delavayii, a " Meadow Rue " from 

 China, has found many admirers since its 

 introduction some years ago. It is of compara- 

 tively dwarf habit, 

 the leaves rather 

 glaucous and finely 

 d i v i d e d . sur- 

 mounted in summer 

 by panicles of rosy 

 lilac flowers. This 

 is a good plant for 

 a choice part of the 

 border, or an effec- 

 tive group may be 

 formed on the lower 

 slopes of the rock 

 garden. 



Thalictrum dip- 

 terocarpum, also 

 from China, is a 

 taller grower, reach- 

 ing five feet when 

 doing well. It likes 

 a fairly retentive 

 soil and an open 

 position, where it 

 will prove effective. 

 The flowers are rosy 

 purple, with a cen- 

 tral tuft of yellow 

 anthers. 



Verbascum "Cale- 

 donia " is only one 

 of a series of hybrid 

 " Mulleins " which 

 have appeared in 

 recent years to add 

 beauty to the hardy 



flower garden. It bears tall spikes of bronzy 

 yellow flowers over a considerable period, and 

 may be recommended as an effective border 

 plant. 



Verbascum Lewanika is a striking hybrid 

 which originated in Ireland. It grows only 

 about two feet high, but blooms very con- 

 tinuously all summer. The colour of the 

 flowers is perhaps unique, being a combination 

 of purple and bronze. 



To those who still have some planting to 

 finish the above brief notes may prove useful in 

 directing attention to only a few of the many 



EtlBES i,\ri:iK<>i.ir.\i (male) 

 \ new Flowering Currani with pale yell< 



fine hardy plants now available. Most of those 

 noted may still be planted and would give a 

 fair account of themselves the first season. 

 Very soon, however, growth will be too far 

 advanced for moving the plants, so if planting 

 is contemplated this spring it should be done 

 at once. — J. \Y. B. 



Ribes laurifolium. 



Tins distinct shrub is a hardy evergreen, and was 

 raised from seed collected in China by Mr. B. EL 

 Wilson. It di tiers from other flowering currants 



in cultivation by 

 having male and 

 female flowers on 

 separate plants, and 

 st range to say nearly 

 all the plants thai 

 have flowered have 

 been female. 



The Hon. Vicary 

 Gibbs showed female 

 plants on 20th Feb- 

 rnarv. 1912, at the 

 London H. II. S. 

 meeting, when an 

 award of merit was 

 granted, lint the fe- 

 male plants are not 

 very bright or cheery 

 in fl o w e r. The 

 female flowers are 

 nearly half an inch 

 across a pah' green- 

 ish- y e I 1 o w . wit h 

 green centre, borne 

 in short racemes 

 about two inches 

 long : braots almost 

 t hree-quarl ers of an 

 inch long subtend 

 t he How ers. and are 

 t he same colour. 



The male plant 

 which flowered in 

 February at (Mas- 

 nevin Botanic Gar- 

 dens, and is shown 

 in the illustration. 

 gives greater pro- 

 mise as a garden 

 s h i' n b t h a n t h e 

 female, unless the 



female proves to 



ha ve d e c o r a t i v e 

 fruit, which remains to he seen. 



The (lowers of the male plant are borne in 

 greater numbers, about twenty to each raceme, 

 anil the racemes spring from crimson scale leaves. 

 Although there are stigmas present in the flowers, 

 yet the ovaries are missing. 



The leaves a re an oval shape, tapering to a 

 sharp point, with seriated margins from 2 to '.'< .1 

 inches long and ahont half as broad ; the upper 

 surface is a deep green, and often reddish beneath. 

 In spring the young shoots are covered with 

 crimson hairs. The shrub (lowers when quite 

 young, the spray shown in the illustration being 

 from a specimen only about a foot high. It is 

 found in a wild state on rocks at an altitude of 



T.uiii) feet in W Szechuan. 



flowers 



